A large crowd gathered Thursday, Oct. 2, as the Cal State Fullerton chapter of Turning Point USA hosted its first event following the assassination of the group’s founder Charlie Kirk.
The three-hour “Speak Your Mind” event was the group’s first this year after the chapter was relaunched back in August. It was held in the Humanities Quad on campus and featured multiple guest speakers — the main guest was Christian evangelist preacher Ray Comfort, who led an interactive panel where audience members could ask questions and share their opinions and frustrations about Christianity.
Kirk, who founded the conservative youth activist organization in 2012, spoke at a campus event in 2024. He was scheduled to make another stop later this year, before he was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
“When Charlie was assassinated, we hit the brakes. Well, nationwide, everyone hit the brakes — to mourn and to figure out what’s our next step because we want safety to be paramount for everyone,” CSUF chapter president Isaac Hernandez said.
Both Comfort and campus police assured attendees there would be heightened security present on campus, including the use of drones for crowd monitoring, out of an abundance of caution in light of Kirk’s recent assassination. CSUF Police Department spokesperson Marissa Garza said various safety measures were in place, and the event was closely monitored, with multiple layers of police and safety personnel available to respond promptly if the need arose.
“We knew we were going to be safe because historically, this campus has been very good about having open dialogue and conversation. Which is why we love our students, and we love being part of this school,” Hernandez said, adding he was surprised by the large turnout at Thursday’s event.
“People are really wanting to hear, really wanting to talk. And for us, that’s good because we want to establish a culture of conversation on campus. Obviously, we come from a conservative background, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to have conversations,” said Hernandez. “We want our culture here to be ‘let’s talk.’ We don’t agree? Let’s talk about it — rather than assumptions — because once you start assuming you can start going down that path of, because you assume the wrong thing, now there’s prejudice or violence because we’re not able to talk about it.”
The atmosphere was calm on Thursday as the large crowd filled in. Not all attendees were students, with several small conservative and Christian groups scattered throughout the quad — some held up banners and others handed out literature to people who walked by.
Some students said they decided to stop by on their way to or from class. Other students and members of the public said they weren’t familiar with Turning Point, but took interest in the topics covered at the event because of their Christian faith.
“I have always been a bit more outspoken since joining Turning Point. But with Charlie’s passing, it kind of just awoke the fire within me to specifically spread the Gospel. I keep saying that Charlie was a great man because he feared the Lord more than he feared man,” said 22-year-old Angelica Gustafson, a CSUF alumna.
Others said they were curious and decided to drop in and see what the event was about, including Derek, a 26-year-old business student. He was introduced to Turning Point USA by a recent vigil the campus chapter hosted in honor of Kirk. He did not share his last name out of concern over being harassed, he said.
“(Kirk’s assassination) definitely is what ultimately led me to be involved in (Turning Point USA) to any degree this year. I found out about it by accident. I showed up just to pay respect and then found out we had a chapter,” he said.
The senior said he doesn’t subscribe to any specific political label and believed it was unfortunate that the country’s politics had become so polarized, “you almost have to align yourself with one side or the other.” He added that while he shared progressive views, he was more aligned with conservative or centrist politics. When it came to safety, he said he wasn’t really concerned about attending the event..
“I try to always be peaceful,” he said. “I would always hope that everyone else would try to be peaceful as well, and that’s what we always aim for.”